: "And sundry other Heathen nations had their Priests instead of Princes, as Kings to gouerne, as Presbiter Iohn is at this present and to this day the high Courts of Parliament in England do consist by ancient custome of calling to that honorable Court of the Lords spirituall and temporall, vnderstood by the Lords spirituall, the Archbishops and Bishops, as the most ancient inuested Barrons (and some of them Earles and others Graces) of this land, & therefore alwaies first in place next vnder our Soueraigne King, Queene, Emperor & Empresse, Lord & Lady (for there is no difference of sexe in Regall Maiesty.) This being so, and that by the lawes Armoriall, Ciuill, and of armes, a Priest in his place in ciuill conuersation is alwayes before any Esquire, as being a Knights fellow by his holy orders: & the third of the three syrs, which only were in request of old (no Barron, Vicount, Earle nor Marquesse being then in vse) to wit, Sir King, Sir Knight, and SIR Priest; this word Dominus in Latine being a nowne substantive common to them all, as Dominus meus Rex, Dominus meus Joab, DOMINUS Sacerdos: and afterwards when honors began to take their subordination one vnder another, & titles of princely dignity to be hereditarie to succeeding posterity (which hapned vpon the fall of the Romane Empire) then Dominus was in Latine applied to all noble & generous harts, euen from the King to the meanest Priest or temporall person of gentle bloud, coate-armor perfect, & ancetry. But Sir in English was restraind to these foure, Sir Knight, SIR Priest, Sir Graduate, & in common speech Sir Esquire: so as alwayes since distinction of titles were, SIR Priest was euer the second. And, if a Priest or Graduate be a Doctor of Diuinity or Preacher allowed, then is his place before any ordinary Knight; if higher aduanced & authorised, then doth his place allow him a congie with esteeme to be had of him accordingly." A Decacordon of Ten Quodlibeticall Questions concerning Todd. * TWELFTH-NIGHT.] There is great reason to believe, that the serious part of this Comedy is founded on some old translation of the seventh history in the fourth volume of Belleforest's Histoires Tragiques. Belleforest took the story, as usual, from Bandello. The comic scenes appear to have been entirely the production of Shakspeare. It is not impossible, however, that the circumstances of the Duke sending his Page to plead his cause with the Lady, and of the Lady's falling in love with the Page, &c. might be borrowed from the Fifth Eglog of Barnaby Googe, published with his other original Poems in 1563: "A worthy Knyght dyd love her longe, "The panges of love, that happen styl "And to entreate for grace to her "This passed well, tyll at the length sewe, "With many teares besechynge her "He never wolde attempte her more "Nor se her ones agayne," &c. Thus also concludes the first scene of the third act of the play before us: "And so adieu, good madam; never more "Will I my master's tears to you deplore," &c. I offer no apology for the length of the foregoing extract, the book from which it is taken, being so uncommon, that only one copy, except that in my own possession, has hitherto occurred. Even Dr. Farmer, the late Rev. T. Warton, Mr. Reed, and Mr. Malone, were unacquainted with this Collection of Googe's Poetry. August 6, 1607, a Comedy called What you will, (which is the second title of this play,) was entered at Stationers' Hall by Tho. Thorpe. I believe, however, it was Marston's play with that name. Ben Jonson, who takes every opportunity to find fault with Shakspeare, seems to ridicule the conduct of Twelfth Night in his Every Man out of his Humour, at the end of Act III. sc. vi. where he makes Mitis say, "That the argument of his comedy might have been of some other nature, as of a duke to be in love with a countess, and that countess to be in love with the duke's son, and the son in love with the lady's waiting maid: some such cross wooing, with a clown to their serving man, better than be thus near and familiarly allied to the time." STEEVENS. I suppose this comedy to have been written in 1614. If however the foregoing passage was levelled at Twelfth-Night, my speculation falls to the ground. See An Attempt to ascertain the Order of Shakspeare's Plays, Vol. II. MALONE. PERSONS REPRESENTED. Orsino, duke of Illyria. Sebastian, a young gentleman, brother to Viola. Valentine, } gentlemen attending on the duke. Sir Toby Belch, uncle of Olivia. Malvolio, steward to Olivia. Lords, Priests, Sailors, Officers, Musicians, and other Attendants. SCENE, a city in Illyria; and the sea-coast near it. |